Review: Strawberry Banana Jungle

Odwalla’s Strawberry Banana Jungle is a first-of-its-kind refrigerated smoothie that is packaged in a Tetra Pak “drink box” and is marketed specifically at children. The not-from-concentrate formulation is very straightforward, with a 100 percent juice/puree blend of apple, strawberry, banana, natural flavors and ascorbic acid. In effect, the drink is simply a strawberry banana smoothie, with apple juice helping to cut the consistency to something that can actually be consumed through the smallish juice straw. From a nutrition point of view, this product is positioning itself as having “one serving of fruit” per container. It’s hard to say how that will be impacted by the drink’s 110 calories and 22g of sugar. Visually, this product, which is sold in a multi-pack, has a wholesome look to it that appears to be trying to create appeal with parents rather than kids. That said, the product is relying heavily on the Odwalla brand name to pull in buyers. From our perspective, it seems like an okay approach rather than trying to develop a completely new brand to appeal to kids. And, they’ve done a decent job of not going overboard when it comes to the amount of text that they’ve put on the package (a constant problem for the big beverage companies). Overall, clean execution and a unique approach to the juice box category make this product that’s worth a try.